“Yet again it’s another illustration of why these horses do not belong on the streets of New York City,” said Carly Knudson of New Yorkers for Clean and Livable Safe Streets.

However, a spokesperson for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York e-mailed CBS 2 early Saturday morning disputing the claim that the horse had collapsed, saying: “This horse did not ‘collapse.’ All horses were suspended from working most of this week due to storm damage in Central Park. The combination of the long period with no work and the cold snap led to this horse exhibiting normal, frisky horse behavior by bucking. A hind leg tangled with the shaft of the carriage, the horse fell, and stayed down calmly while people unhooked him from the carriage. He was walked back to his stable under his own power, without further incident.”

Last month, 15-year-old draft horse “Charlie” dropped dead as he pulled a carriage to work at Central Park. A necropsy revealed he had several ailments, including a fractured tooth and a chronic stomach ulcer.

“Some of these horses have underlying health conditions that are not being noticed or picked up in the mandatory Department of Health fact checks,” Knudson said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a long-time supporter of the horse and carriage trade, what he called a major source of tourism revenue. He’s not wavered from his position to keep the horses on the street.

“Most of them probably wouldn’t be alive if they didn’t have a job,” Bloomberg said recently.